Debit and Credit 43 



person or account which receives value is a debtor ^ 

 and any person or account which has parted with 

 value is a creditor. The beginner would better 

 think of the debtor side first and record this side 

 of the transaction first, on the left-hand page, 

 if there are two pages — one page for debtor and 

 one for creditor — or on the left-hand side of the 

 single page, as shown in the blotter here. In mak- 

 ing entries, let the writing be upright and com- 

 pact, and above all distinguish sharply between 

 the figures 3 and 5, 7 and 9, and 6 and 0. In 

 fact, make all figures so plain that "he who 

 runs may read" them correctly. If the college 

 student has some difficulty in comprehending all 

 of the various transactions, with the instructor 

 at hand to explain, it will readily be seen that 

 the student without a teacher will have more 

 difficulty. This being so, he will be wise who 

 takes up each one of these entries in detail and 

 imagines the transaction which must have oc- 

 curred to give rise to the entry. 



For illustration, let the fourth entry be taken 

 (p. 47) . Mr. LaPoint shod the horses and was paid 

 in cash. Teams received value and Cash parted 

 with value; therefore, the former is debited be- 

 cause value was received, and the latter credited 

 because value was given. If the transaction is 

 looked at carelessly it may be thought that La 

 Point should be credited, but the only object in 



